Food and restaurant reviews from all over the world

Main Menu

Hofbrauhaus

Built in 1897, the Munich Hofbrauhaus has a long storied history. It’s history goes back to 1589 with Wilhelm V., Duke of Bavaria creating his own brewery to satisfy his thirst for quality beer and later with Wilhelm’s son and successor, Duke Maximilian I in 1602 switching the heavy brown ale to the currently commonly found wheat beer.

Whatever the reason you came to Munich, you can’t leave here without visiting this famous brewery and having a good time in the large beer halls. There’s a lot of locals and a lot of tourists at this establishment. I came here just after lunch when the crowd starting to die down. The large beer hall – they have another, almost as large, beer hall on the top floor There are crowds of people eating, walking through to visit, and people cheering with tall glasses of beer. Seating is where ever you can find a seat and most seats are either the long benches so get used to sitting beside strangers and sharing menus. During much of the day, a band plays cheerful music for the crowd sing and toast to. In front of the music podium is a narrow walk way. Lots of people block it up listening to the music or taking photos. A must have is their pretzels. The small ones (below) can be ordered from your waiter but the large ones can only be ordered by the ladies/men who carry the straw basket of pretzels. The whole ordering pretzels is a confusing affair for the newbies – like me. Another must order, the Hofbräu Original beer: It’s really smooth and llight. I liked it a lot. Much better than the US domestic beers. You can order their Hofbräu Dark Beer if you prefer dark. Broth of Beef soup There is a lot of beef in there. The beef is spongy and the soup is light. The beef is actually made of large homemade liver dumplings. Original HB sausage platter with pork sausages, Viennese, and pfälzer sausage on a bed of sauerkraut The pork sausages taste like hot dogs but with a crisper shell. The Viennese sausage tasted like a bratwurst, and the pfälzer tasted like a bratwurst with additional seasoning which are onions and oregano. Inside the sausages They tasted like they were cooked on a frying top rather than a barbeque grill.

Come here for the beer. Come here for the large pretzels. Come here for the atmosphere. Come here because of it’s long history. But don’t come here expecting awesome food. It’s a fun place and you can even buy a beer mug from their souvenir shop. If you’re looking for magnets, you can find the same ones are nearby shops for cheaper.